Peregrinations: Journal of Medieval Art and Architecture Volume 5 Issue 4 111-146 2016 The Lamentation of Chomranice: A Fifteenth-Century Masterpiece in which South meets North Magdalena Lanuszka Follow this and additional works at: https://digital.kenyon.edu/perejournal Part of the Ancient, Medieval, Renaissance and Baroque Art and Architecture Commons Recommended Citation Lanuszka, Magdalena. "The Lamentation of Chomranice: A Fifteenth-Century Masterpiece in which South meets North." Peregrinations: Journal of Medieval Art and Architecture 5, 4 (2016): 111-146. https://digital.kenyon.edu/perejournal/vol5/iss4/5 This Feature Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Art History at Digital Kenyon: Research, Scholarship, and Creative Exchange. It has been accepted for inclusion in Peregrinations: Journal of Medieval Art and Architecture by an authorized editor of Digital Kenyon: Research, Scholarship, and Creative Exchange. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Lanuszka The Lamentation of Chomranice: A Fifteenth-Century Masterpiece in which South meets North By Magdalena Łanuszka, Ph.D., Independent Scholar, Cracow The fifteenth century is considered a breakthrough era: it was the highest moment of the late-medieval court culture with its late-Gothic art and is was when the Renaissance began. Central Europe enjoyed the peak of cultural development at that time, with one of its leading artistic centers being Cracow. Unfortunately, with Poland’s later history, most of the old masterpieces from this period have been lost and what has survived is often not easily accessible. In order to understand a little of what has been lost, this essay will explore the Lamentation of Chomranice, using it as an exemplar of the international artistic influences on Cracow during this complex period. Introduction: Gothic panel painting in Lesser Poland The Lamentation of Chomranice (Fig. 1) was created in Cracow, Lesser Poland; almost all the surviving Gothic panels of Lesser Poland are believed to have been created in that city.1 Unfortunately almost no written sources survive that would 1 For the 15th century "Lesser Poland" included the whole Cracow Diocese. The subject of the Gothic panel painting in Lesser Poland had been researched by Jerzy Gadomski (1981, 1988, 1995). He concluded that Cracow was the main (if not the only one) artistic centre in Lesser Poland in the 15th century. Previous theories dividing Lesser Poland's painting into "Cracow School" and "Nowy Sącz School" are no longer accepted. Most of the publications about these paintings were collected in the 111 Published by Digital Kenyon: Research, Scholarship, and Creative Exchange, 2016 Peregrinations: Journal of Medieval Art and Architecture, Vol. 5, Iss. 4 [2016] Figure 1 Lamentation of Chomranice, Diocesian Museum, Tarnow. Photo: Wikimedia Commons. 3-volume study Malarstwo Gotyckie (2004). Individual Lesser Poland's Gothic paintings were published in monographs throughout the 20th century, but many require a new research as a result of new technological examination possibilities and the changing state of knowledge on the subject. 112 https://digital.kenyon.edu/perejournal/vol5/iss4/5 Lanuszka enable precise dating or attributions. The only remaining way to establish these parameters is to closely analyze the style and the iconography of the artwork. Panel paintings were present in Cracow at least from the thirteenth century, as mentioned in the written sources of the time2 and the oldest surviving piece is a fragment of an altarpiece panel, depicting Saints Catherine and Agnes, from St Michael Church in Dębno Podhalańskie, (c. 1270-1280).3 In the twelfth and thirteenth centuries Poland was fragmented into principalities ruled by rival scions of the Piast dynasty, but the duke of Cracow was a titular suzerain over them. As a result, Cracow aspired to be a cultural leader in the thirteenth century, and would establish that position after becoming a capital of the reunited Kingdom of Poland in the fourteenth century. Unfortunately no Cracow panel paintings from the fourteenth century survived, although many painters (pictores) are recorded in the written sources of the time.4 The number of the painters in Cracow significantly increased by the end of the fourteenth century, with the painters guild established there by 1404.5 Guild education system required a journeyman to undertake a working trip; as a result, Cracow painters became familiar with the art of nearby Silesia, Bohemia or Austria, and sometimes Italy or the Netherlands.6 For the first three decades of the fifteenth century painting in Cracow was strongly influenced by the Bohemian art of the previous century. The artists followed the "beautiful style," developed by the workshops in Prague, such as the workshop of The Master of Vyšší Brod or The Master of the Třeboň Altarpiece. The figures were tall and thin, elegant, and modelled with chiaroscuro; the drapery folds were rounded 2 Kalinowski (1976); see also Gadomski (2004): 256. 3 Togner (1993). It is tempera on panel, 68.5 by 23.5 cm, in the Archdiocesan Museum, Cracow. 4 Ptaśnik (1917): no. 16, 22, 36, 43, 46, 51, 72, 90, 114, 116, 121, 122, 123, 129, 132, 134; See Gadomski (2004): 256-257, notes 6 and 8. 5 Wyrozumski (1992): 351-352. 6 Gadomski (2004): 252. 113 Published by Digital Kenyon: Research, Scholarship, and Creative Exchange, 2016 Peregrinations: Journal of Medieval Art and Architecture, Vol. 5, Iss. 4 [2016] Figure 2 Altar wings from Trzebunia, c. 1400, National Museum in Cracow. Photo: http://ww w.kultura.malopol ska.pl/ and Wikimedia Commons and fell in cascades as seen in the altar wings from Trzebunia (c. 1400) (Fig. 2),7 the Triptych with Virgin and Child Enthroned (c. 1420),8 and the Epitaph of Wierzbięta of Branice (before 1425).9 In the second third of the fifteenth century, Cracow painters developed their own, slightly different artistic style: they kept the general character of the International Gothic, 7 National Museum in Cracow. Marcinkowski & Zaucha (2007): 17-19. See also catalog entry by T. Łozińska in 2nd volume of Malarstwo Gotyckie (2004): 223. 8 National Museum in Cracow. Marcinkowski & Zaucha (2007): 18-20. See also catalog entry by T. Łozińska in 2nd volume of Malarstwo Gotyckie (2004): 213. 9 National Museum in Cracow. Krzysztofowicz-Kozakowska, Krasny & Walczak (2006): 60. See also catalog entry by T. Łozińska in 2nd volume of Malarstwo Gotyckie (2004): 247-248. 114 https://digital.kenyon.edu/perejournal/vol5/iss4/5 Lanuszka but reduced the elements of composition, simplified the draperies, and chose to use much more significant contours, making the paintings seem more linear. Typical Cracow painting of the 1440s and 1450s is represented for example by the wings of the altarpiece from Ptaszkowa (c. 1440),10 or the Crucifixion from Korzenna (c. 1450) (Fig. 3).11 Nevertheless, the echoes of the "beautiful style" were still present in the Cracow art as seem in the Epitaph of Jan of Ujazd (1450) .12 Then, in the second half of the 1460s, a new style of the Netherlandish origin became popular in Cracow, featuring complex compositions placed in interiors or landscapes, less-idealized depictions of figures and angular drapery fold. This style is represented by the panels of the high altar from the Dominican Church in Cracow (c. 1465), by the Master of the Dominican Triptych (Fig. 4)13 or by the Augustinian Altarpiece (1468), by Nicolaus Haberschrack.14 Lamentation of Chomranice The Lamentation of Chomranice, now in the Diocesan Museum, Tarnów,15 though not well-known outside Poland, is one of the most interesting examples of Polish panel painting of the first half of the fifteenth century (Fig. 1). Polish scholars have noted both Italian and Netherlandish influences in this painting.16 10 Diocesan Museum in Tarnów. Catalog entry by T. Łozińska in 2nd volume of Malarstwo Gotyckie (2004): 244-245. 11 National Museum in Cracow. Treasures from Poland (1966): 28, no. 7. See also catalog entry by T. Łozińska in 2nd volume of Malarstwo Gotyckie (2004): 192. 12 Wawel Royal Castle Collection, Museum in Pieskowa Skała Castle. Janczyk (2005): 124. See also catalog entry by T. Łozińska in 2nd volume of Malarstwo Gotyckie (2004): 152-153. 13 Its panels are in the Dominican Monastery in Cracow and the National Museum in Cracow. Madej- Anderson (2007). 14 National Museum in Cracow. Stolot 2008. See also catalog entry by K. Secomska in 2nd volume of Malarstwo Gotyckie (2004): 202-204. 15 In most non-Polish publications where the Lamentation of Chomranice appears, it is only briefly mentioned, sometimes with some basic information about it (including the information that it was influenced both by Netherlandish and Italian art, but with no further details), but without any explanations or analysis, rather in a form of a short summary: Rhodes (1972): 137-138; Morawińska (1984): 6 and 58; Poprzęcka (2000): 19 and 46. 16 Jerzy Gadomski was the first one to notice the Netherlandish influences in that painting; he also 115 Published by Digital Kenyon: Research, Scholarship, and Creative Exchange, 2016 Peregrinations: Journal of Medieval Art and Architecture, Vol. 5, Iss. 4 [2016] Figure 3 Crucifixion from Korzenna, c. 1450, National Museum in Cracow. Photo: http://www. kultura.malopolska. pl/ concluded that its author must have been to Italy: Gadomski (1972); Gadomski (1981): 104-105. The Lamentation of Chomranice has been analyzed or mentioned many times in the Polish art history publications of the 20th century, though the analysis by Jerzy Gadomski is the most complex one. The summary of all the previous research (with the references) is collected in the catalog entry by T. Łozińska in the 2nd volume of Malarstwo Gotyckie (2004): 150-151. See also Gadomski (1986). 116 https://digital.kenyon.edu/perejournal/vol5/iss4/5 Lanuszka Figure 4 Entombment, c. 1465, Master of the Dominican Triptych, panel of the Dominican Altarpiece, National Museum in Cracow.